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- Author, Ashitha nages
- Author's title, BBC News
50 years ago, Martina Navratilova left the communist Czechoslovakia where he was born to start a new life in the United States.
At 18, the then high school student became one of the most outstanding deserters of the Cold War and, later, in one of the most emblematic tennis players in the world.
However, in an interview with the BBC journalist Amol Rajan, he said he feared that, at present, the US would not let him in.
“I am not loyal to Donald Trump,” he says, adds that he is concerned that the US has become a “totalitarian” state.
Since President Trump assumed office in January, his government has carried out extensive immigration raids, unleashing protests in some parts of the country.
He has also established a prohibition to travel to citizens from 12 countries, and there have been reports of tourists arrested at the border.
“If I now continue in the same situation (as in 1975) and I had to go to live somewhere, it would not be the United States, because at this time it is not a democracy,” he says.
When he talks about American politics, Navratilova's frustration is palpable. He believes that people have not realized that the situation is gradually worsening.
The United States, he adds, “is definitely becoming against immigrants.”
“People are being expelled for national security, they are being expelled because they do not completely agree with Donald Trump's agenda … because they are not showing him reverence,” he says.
Transgender women in tennis
The decision to flee to the US in 1975 was not easy, he remembers.
Account that had an “idyllic” childhood in Revnice, in the current Czech Republic, with a affectionate family that had to leave behind.
“I didn't know when I would see my parents again, or if I would see them again.”
But doing so changed the course of his life. In a press conference, Navratilova explained that he left Czechoslovakia because he wanted to become the number one of world tennis, and that “he could not do it in his country in those circumstances.”
Image source, Getty Images
In fact, it became number one, both in female individuals for 332 weeks and in female doubles during a 237 weeks record. Today it is considered one of the best players in the world.
Navratilova has dual nationality, American and Czech, and continues to live in the US with his wife, model Julia Lemigova.
Do you worry that, in the current political climate, you can lose your own nationality?
“Right now everything is in the air, and that's what it is about. Everyone is with lead feet, without knowing what will happen.”
However, there is an extremely divisive issue in which he has already said that he agrees with President Trump: the participation of transsexual women in sport.
Navratilova firmly believes that the inclusion of transgender women in female tennis is “a mistake.”
Image source, Getty Images
She says that she does not agree with the current norms of the World Tennis Association (WTA), which establish that transsexual women can participate in female parties if they present a written and signed statement that they are women or non -binary, that their testosterone levels have been below a certain limit for two years and that they maintain those levels of testosterone.
Navratilova believes that trans women have biological advantages in women's sport, a very debated belief.
“There should be no ostracism or harassment,” he says, “but male bodies have to play in male sports. They can continue to compete. Trans women are not prohibited in sport. They just have to compete in the right category, which is the male. It's that simple.”
And he adds: “By including male bodies in the women's tournament, now someone does not enter the tournament: a woman does not enter the tournament because now a man has held her place.”
When the BBC asked if we should “dedicate a little more time to be understanding” with trans people, Navratilova replied: “Very understanding, but that does not entitle the female spaces based on gender.”
His fight against cancer
Navratilova has talked openly about its fight against cancer in the last 15 years.
The first time he was diagnosed with breast cancer was in 2010, at 52. 13 years later, cancer reappeared, along with a second throat cancer that was not linked.
Image source, Getty Images
“When I learned, I got like this,” says Navratilova, while hitting his face with his hands, as if something surprised her. “And I said:” Oh, this lymphatic ganglion is a bit larger. “And a couple of weeks later, remains bigger.”
After a scanner, doctors also detected the second cancer in their chest.
“They gave us the results and it was cancer,” he says. “And I: 'My God, I'm going to die'.”
Although he says that the treatment was “a hell”, now he feels “very good.”
“I touch wood, everything is fine and without side effects at all – apart from the fact that red wine does not know well, so I have passed to tequila and vodka,” he laughs. “I'm lucky. The cure was hell, but what came later has been great.”
Has cancer changed something to Navratilova?
“Cancer taught me to really appreciate every day, which I already did quite a lot,” he says. “But, above all, not to worry about small things. Those have arrangement.”
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